by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

Anyone standing near the escalator outside the Aria hotel conference room late Monday night could see that much. Michele Roberts was on her way to becoming the first woman to head a North American men's major professional sports league's union, with 32 of 36 votes being lodged for the renowned trial lawyer from Washington in a vote for the National Basketball Players Association executive director position.

Washington Wizards teammates Paul Pierce and Drew Gooden headed for the exits early, upset at a vote they considered rushed. Former player Jerry Stackhouse, who admitted his own aspirations of running the union and was fuming after being forced to leave before the vote was taken, vented on his way out to reporters who waited on the verdict for nearly 20 minutes. Some of the NBA's most prominent agents had rallied on Monday morning in an attempt to delay the vote, holding a conference call with the NBPA's executive committee to discuss the merits of giving the process more time.

But 18 months after the firing of former director Billy Hunter ended a sordid chapter in the union's history, the NBPA's leadership was elated with the decision that they say will put their operation back on track. Their excitement was even harder to miss than the dissatisfaction that ultimately played no part in this process.

The meeting had lasted more than seven hours, with 117 players attending in total and the three finalists â?? Roberts, Dallas Mavericks CEO Terdema Ussery, and Information Technology Industry Council CEO Dean Garfield â?? giving 45-minute presentations to state their respective case, and it all ended with applause from the NBPA executive committee that's headed by Los Angeles Clippers point guard and union president Chris Paul. Roberts, who has no previous NBA ties but who has been celebrated in the legal industry as someone who simply refuses to lose in court, clearly won them over.

Now, of course, comes the question of whether she can help the players win in the summer of 2017. The players and owners have the ability to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement after the 2016-17 season, and â?? amid the soaring franchise values and lingering resentment that their cut of the basketball-related income went from 57% to 50% the last time around â?? all current signs point to the players doing just that.

"We started yesterday preparing for CBA negotiations," Roberts said when asked about the status of that looming summer. "(Whether the players will opt out) is not a question you direct to me. My clients are going to tell me where we're going, and I'm going to make sure we get there."

And therein lies the point.

Under Hunter's guidance, the union's leadership was far too territorial and secretive, players consistently complained. The process wasn't inclusive, they'd say, and the majority of players were forced to follow the powerful minority during a time in which owners slowly but surely gained the upper hand in negotiations.

The hope with Roberts, as so many players see it, is that the combination of her intellect and her lack of a basketball background will spawn a welcome mix of humble effectiveness that makes for a more inclusive process.

"I do feel good," Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Reggie Jackson said. "I feel like we're putting a team together, like we have more of a voice. I'm hoping things go well from this point on. Michele, I liked her idea of team implementing, understanding that it's not one person. And I think our new direction, we understand that players kind of have to be at the top of the food chain and we're going to work collectively to shore things up. That's what, 2017 offseason? Let's hope nothing goes wrong there and things go smoothly."

Roberts' election came on the day the NBA moved closer to finalizing its ousting of Donald Sterling as Los Angeles Clippers owner. With the team still expected to be sold to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a record $2 billion, the players are more aware than ever they need a capable leader to help them get the piece of the proverbial pie they feel they deserve.

"We understand that this is a defining moment in sports," free agent and executive committee vice president Roger Mason said. "A $2 billion sale, a lot of good things going on in our league, some of the most recognizable faces around the globe. And we understand that next time we have a chance to go through collective bargaining, we have a whole lot more to talk about, and the discussion is going to be different. I think what we wanted to do is to make sure we had a leader in place who understood that vision, who realized that opportunity at hand and who could give us a vision on how we can get where we want to go."

And Roberts is, as free agent forward Louis Amundson said, the exact opposite of her predecessor.

"I think she wants to have that kind of environment, where everybody is putting in their two cents," Amundson told USA TODAY Sports. "I think maybe the gender thing helps that cause, just because she's not as intimidating maybe as some of the other guys would be.

"The idea was that it was the complete opposite of Billy. Before with Billy, the top players would kind of just dictate what they wanted, and then Billy would kind of dictate what he wanted, and then everybody else would kind of just fall in line. Now you have somebody who's maybe not used to being in this sports realm, it'll become more even, more (democratic)."

Paul praised the players' willingness to elect a woman.

"On behalf of our players, it shows how open minded our players are," he said. "With any of the candidates it wasn't about race, gender, anything, it was who is going to be the best person in that position. Like she said, from Day 1 of interviews she tackled that question head first and she did it in front of our executive committee, the search committee and the same thing with our player audience."

Roberts' message about the merits of a team approach at the union level that won the players over throughout the day continued after her victory was over.

"They've got their union back, and I'm going to make sure that they are empowered to take their union exactly where they want their union to go," Roberts said. "I am a bad woman, but I'm not that bad. We are going to have a team, a very strong team, what I call a team of Gladiators, that's going to help these men and women, again, go in the direction they choose to go. It's a new day. It's not a one-person, Superman, 'I've got this.' It's going to be a team."